• Cricket Australia (CA) and the Australian Institute of Sport (AIS) today marked the 20th anniversary of the establishment of the national cricket academy - now known as the CA Centre of Excellence.

• The AIS men’s and women’s cricket programs through the CA Centre of Excellence based at Allan Border Field in Brisbane is committed to identifying, testing and developing some of Australia’s best players backed by world-class coaching and sports science expertise.

• The AIS men’s cricket program was established in 1987 (originally based in Henley Beach, Adelaide) in a joint initiative with the then Australian Cricket Board to further training and development of Australia’s best elite cricketers. It was known then as the Commonwealth Bank Cricket Academy.

• The first intake of players into the program commenced in 1998.

• It moved to a new training base in 2004 at Allan Border Field in Brisbane becoming the Commonwealth Bank Centre of Excellence.

• Over 20 years, the AIS cricket program has helped to train and develop more than 265 male players. 43 players have gone on to represent Australia in one day internationals, test matches and twenty 20 games. The 265th AIS scholarship holder is Queensland fast bowler Ben Cutting.

• The national cricket program has helped to produce some of Australia’s greatest players. Nine former AIS scholarship holders took part in Australia’s victorious win and clean sweep in the 2007 World Cup and the 2006 Ashes Test series which included Ricky Ponting, Glenn McGrath, Michael Clarke, Mike Hussey, Adam Gilchrist, Andrew Symonds, Shaun Tait, Mitchell Johnson and Nathan Bracken and Shane Warne (who contributed to the Ashes success).

• The 2007 AIS men’s cricket squad includes Michael Hill (VIC), Phillip Hughes (NSW) Craig Philipson (QLD), Matthew Wade (TAS), Ben Cutting (QLD), Brendan Drew (TAS), Aaron Finch (VIC), David Warner (NSW), Mark Cosgrove (SA), Shawn Gillies (WA), Aaron Heal (WA), Luke Pomersbach (WA), Luke Ronchi (WA), Grant Sullivan (QLD), Ed Cowan (NSW), Moises Henriques (NSW) and Cullen Bailey (SA).

• AIS Women’s Cricket Program was introduced as a camps-based program during 2000/01 season. 44 scholarship holders have progressed through the AIS women’s cricket program with 33 representing Australia in test, one-day matches and Twenty20 matches.

• Scholarship holders have included Karen Rolton, Lisa Keightley, Belinda Clark, Zoe Goss, Cathryn Fitzpatrick and Lisa Sthalekar. The most recent (44th scholar) is 16 yo Ellyse Perry who became the youngest player to represent Australia in the recent victorious Rose Bowl series against NZ held in Darwin

• Head Coaches of AIS Men’s program were Jack Potter (1987-89), Andrew Sincock (1990-91), Rod Marsh (1991-2001), Bennett King (2002-2004), Tim Nielsen (2005-07)

• Head Coaches of AIS Women’s Program were Steve Jenkin (2001-2005) Mark Sorrell (2005-07), Lisa Keightley (current)

• Today’s function was held at the new high-tech testing facility for the training and development of Australia’s next generation of talented cricketers in the AIS Sports Science and Sports medicine hub based in Canberra.

• This new facility will allow the AIS men’s and women’s cricket programs to gain access to the Institute’s state-of-the-art research facilities and world-class expertise and support in coaching and sport science and medicine.

• The AIS and CA is renowned for conducting innovative and cutting-edge sports science and medicine, research and technology development.

• CA and the AIS are also partners in research through a PhD scholarship scheme. Currently 2 PhD scholars are working on projects to assist Australian Cricket remain at the forefront of advances in the sport.

• Coaches and sports scientists working in this new testing facility will be equipped with motion analysis systems and other powerful tools to observe, analyse and fine tune the technique, actions and forces behind the peak performance of Australia’s elite batsmen, bowlers and fielders.

• Skills acquisition tests will also be conducted in this new facility to capture, monitor and analyse date about the performance—accuracy, timing and decision-making—of Australia’s batsmen, fielders and bowlers.

• The new testing facility will be used by the Cricket Australia Centre for Excellence for researching and preparing some of Australia best cricketers for the rigours and demands of domestic and international competition.

Did you know?

Australia is one of only two nations to have competed in every modern Summer Olympic Games.

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